What is normal?

In today's discussion of the Mathew Sheppard case it was brought up that the fact that he was a middle class white male, played a large role in how much media attention he got. It was said that on the south side of Chicago that X amount of children have died in 2012 alone and they get no coverage, but when middle class white kids were in the same situation it was on the news for weeks because of their class and race. I feel as if this is a false assumption. First of all because of the fact that the Newtown tragedy happened all at once, and second of all because it is not a normal occurrence. I am not saying that because the south side of Chicago shootings are more frequent that they are less important, it is that they are more shocking because they are unexpected. An example of the fact that it has nothing to do with race or class, is the story of Richard Szewka. He was shot down on the south side of Chicago on August 13th 2011 while visiting his wife's family. He was a white middle class male, his story didn't make the news any more than other shootings that night. The only newspaper article that went into details was the newspaper in his hometown because he was local, and the fact that his family made the attempt to get the story out. I think that this is a terrible thing because every single one of those people had loved ones, friends just like the family's of Newtown's victims but because shootings have become so normal on the south side of Chicago, no story is special anymore. I'm not saying Richard was special, but none of those lives seem to be as special as the lives taken in areas where it is less shocking. So I do not believe that Mathew Sheppard was big in the news because he was a white middle class male, I think he was big in the news because his story was shocking.



Here is the Article about Richard if you are interested: Richard Szewka